ISW: Ukraine Uses US Secretly Provided ATACMS Missiles To Strike Second Enemy Target
- 25.04.2024, 8:16
Not only in the occupied Crimea.
The Ukrainian forces could use ATACMS missiles, secretly transferred to Ukraine by the United States in March, to strike the Russian S-300 air defence system in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region. This is stated in a recent report by analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
According to a senior US official, Ukrainian forces fired ATACMS missiles at a Russian military base in occupied Crimea and an undefined target east of Berdiansk.
ISW writes that geolocation footage published on April 23 shows Ukrainian troops striking several radars of the Russian S-300 air defence system southeast of the occupied Volnovakha (northeast of Berdiansk).
The Ukrainian military has not yet confirmed this strike.
Ukraine strikes Dzhankoi airbase with ATACMS missiles
On the night of April 17, residents of Dzhankoi reported explosions and a fire in the area of the airfield. The satellite recorded six fires at the military airbase in Dzhankoi and next to it.
We are talking about the location of the helicopter regiment of the 4th Air Force and Air Defence Command of the Southern Military District. The airbase was attacked with ballistic missiles.
According to the Crimean social media, not only attack helicopters were based at the airfield. Earlier, S-300/S-400 launchers were spotted there.
As a result of the strike, the enemy lost four helicopters and one air defence system. In particular, four helicopters - two Ka-52s and two Mi-28s - were destroyed or partially damaged during the attack. There is an alleged hit on the S-300 air defence launcher. The personnel losses of the Russians are not clear yet.
Ukraine fired at least two ATACMS ballistic missiles at the Russians' airbase in Dzhankoi. Defense Express analyst Ivan Kirichevsky stated this.
Recall that Reuters wrote, citing an anonymous American official, that the United States had already supplied Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles.
Ukraine is successfully using them on the battlefield. In particular, it used them for the first time on April 17, to strike Russian air bases in Crimea.